Cam Newton stars as Carolina Panthers edge out New Orleans Saints

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton celebrates with fullback Mike Tolbert (35) after a touchdown in the first half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015.

After holding the Panthers to 13 points in the first half, the Saints gave up 28 in the second half as Carolina quarterback Cam Newton furthered his MVP case with five passing touchdowns.

Channel 9 was there overnight as hundreds of Panthers fans welcomed the NFC South division champions back to Charlotte.

Carolina quarterback Newton, who completed 28 of 41 passes for 331 yards, twice had to lead the Panthers back from fourth-quarter deficits to preserve the Panthers' unbeaten record. He narrowly pulled it off, finding tight end Greg Olsen for a first down as he rolled left on a fourth-and-4. "It goes back to his whole development as a quarterback in this league".

"I think it is confidence in himself and confidence in his teammates - an approach where it doesn't matter what's going to happen, we're going to get it done", Shula said.

"It wasn't pretty. We didn't start off fast like we wanted, but at the end of the day we knew we had a team full or resilient guys and we knew how to finish". Mark Ingram rushed 12 times for 56 yards, and Brandin Cooks caught six passes for 104 yards to lead the Saints' side. When he was over on the sideline shaking his head, I didn't see that until I saw it on the replay this morning. "I felt like it never once was out of my grasp".

Newton was rocked with two hard hits by the Saints defense and even was given an independent evaluation for a possible concussion in the Carolina locker room after a goal-line hit by linebacker Michael Mauti. He was cleared and didn't miss a snap.

"We followed the rules here", Rivera said.

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San Francisco 49ers (4-8) 26 Chicago Bears (5-7) 20: Blaine Gabbert played poorly, but managed one touchdown pass with ideal timing, connecting with Torrey Smith on a 71-yard touchdown pass to win the game in overtime. But that just set up Newton's late-game heroics, his third game-winning drive in the fourth quarter this season.

This comes as the National Football League faces more scrutiny over the health of its players, particularly when it comes to their long-term health and concussions. The penalty blotter: facemask, personal foul for a late hit out of bounds and defensive holding on third-and-goal.

Newton threw five touchdown passes in two of those three games. Ted Ginn Jr. dropped two passes.

"It's a game of inches, any divisional game is going to be like that regardless of records". "Dennis and he have a great relationship". That's what unbeaten teams do. We had a lot of good things happen.

The Eagles improved to 5-7 and moved into a tie for second place in the NFC East, a half-game behind the Washington Redskins, who play the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night. "I dropped them. Period", Ginn said. Sammy Watkins had three catches for 109 yards and a touchdown.

The Panthers offense might not have been clicking on all cylinders, particularly with the deep passes, but it still proved to be far more than the Saints' woeful defense could handle. But you can't play teams that aren't on your schedule and Newton's low passer rating might be a scary sign for the future, but it hasn't affected the final outcome.

-CB Delvin Breaux, the Saints' best cover man, when went down with a right hamstring injury.

Cam Newton took some shots in yesterday's game, notably one near the goal line when he dove for the pylon instead of sliding and got absolutely hammered.